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In Parkinson's Fly Model, Dementia Induced And Blocked
Parkinson"s disease is well-known for impairing movement and causing tremors, but many patients also develop other serious problems, including sleep disturbances and significant losses in cognitive function known as dementia.
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Teens Need To Hear About 'More Than Abstinence,' Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Says
Although it is "important for other young people to hear" Bristol Palin"s message "about how hard it is to be a teenage mother," her "lesson falls short by suggesting that any teen can successfully avoid premarital sex," a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial says. Palin, who gave birth in December 2008 after an unintended pregnancy and is the daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), has "changed her tune" since she said in a February interview that teen abstinence is ""not realistic at all,"" the editorial states. It adds that Bristol Palin -- now an "abstinence ambassador" for the Candie"s Foundation -- recently said that abstinence is "realistic" and that it is the "harder choice, but it"s the safer choice."The editorial continues that Palin is correct that "[a]bstinence is the only foolproof way to avoid pregnancy" and sexually transmitted infections. However, "any viable lesson about avoiding teen pregnancy should include methods besides avoiding sex, including the use of condoms," the editorial says. Recent studies have shown that abstinence-only sex education programs have had "no measurable impact on delaying teens from having sex for the first time," according to the editorial, which adds that teen pregnancy rates rose 5% between 2005 and 2007 after years of declines. Additionally, three out of 10 U.S. girls will get pregnant by age 20, a figure that increases to more than 50% for Hispanics and blacks. The editorial concludes that teens "need frank talk about premarital sex that includes all of the viable options to avoid pregnancy" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/15).
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Collaboration Between NC State And UNC Lineberger To Combat Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma In Human And Canine Patients
What do a college of veterinary medicine and a cancer treatment and research center have in common? The answer may be as plain as the nose on your dog"s face. Researchers from North Carolina State University"s College of Veterinary Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center are combining their expertise to pinpoint the cause of -- and improve treatments for -- non-Hodgkin lymphoma in human and canine patients.
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Online Obituaries Are Changing The Way We Publicly Remember The Dead And How Newspapers Cover Deaths

The ways we deal with death are finding a new life online, according to research being published by a Kansas State University journalism professor and her colleague. "You"re accustomed to clipping an obituary from the newspaper and putting it in the family Bible, but with online obituary services you can e-mail them to anyone you know," said Bonnie Bressers, associate professor of journalism and mass communications at K-State. She and Janice Hume at the University of Georgia, who is the principal researcher on the project, have studied the phenomenon of newspapers publishing obituaries online and what it means not only for mourners and the public memory of the dead but also the ethical implications for newspapers. They will present their work in August at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications conference in Boston. Hume was a K-State journalism and mass communications faculty member from 1999-2001. Hume and Bressers looked at obituaries in the largest circulation newspapers in each of nine geographic regions across the United States. All of these newspapers had a partnership with Legacy.com, an online obituary service. When readers click on a paid obituary from the newspaper"s Web site, they"re redirected to the Legacy site, which adds an online guestbook that allows visitors to post comments. The family can later e-mail the entire guestbook to other mourners. The researchers found that although this capability has positive implications for a community of mourners, it poses a conundrum for newspapers. In part, this is because the Legacy pages recreate the look of the hosting newspaper. "To the user who isn"t savvy, he or she would assume it"s still the newspaper"s site," Bressers said. "In a hundred years, will readers distinguish the two? The ethical implications need to be considered." Legacy vets comments for the subjective quality of appropriateness, which Bressers said makes it unlikely to read comments about a person that aren"t a glowing -- and perhaps more accurate -- account of their character. At the same time, comments aren"t edited for accuracy in the way a newspaper report would be. "If I were a newspaper, I"d also be concerned that outside companies like this are making money providing the kind of public access people want," Bressers said. "Newspapers have long been the holders of public memory, remembering people and reflecting the values of the time. At one time, for example, an examination of newspaper obituaries would make it look like women and African-Americans didn"t die. We see online obituaries opening up the possibility that more people won"t be forgotten." Bressers said that she and Hume also see how online obituaries are bringing mourners together in a way that would have been impossible before. Friends and family who wouldn"t have been able to attend a funeral to sign a physical guest book can send their condolences from anywhere they have an Internet connection. The researchers found comments from friends and family members sharing stories -- often humorous ones -- that painted a clearer picture of what the deceased person was really like. Bressers said they were struck by the remarkable connections not just between people who have died and their childhood friends and co-workers, but also between complete strangers. If the deceased was a veteran, strangers express gratitude for that person having served the country. Strangers who shared a medical condition with the deceased convey empathy with the family. The messages that are perhaps more specific to online mourning are those speaking to the dead themselves. Hume and Bressers found such guestbook comments often make a request of the deceased, such as "Say hi to Mom."" Although comments can be left anonymously, mourners can leave an e-mail address with the "contact me" button, allowing the grieving to connect outside of the guestbook. "These obituaries go beyond what a reporter would write and what a family would pay for," Bressers said. "Something may be lost in families not getting cards in the mail, but what is lost is outsized by allowing more people to participate in an online guestbook. The implications for community-building are immense." Bonnie Bressers Kansas State University


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